On 17th July I wrote a blog about a Compass meeting held the night before when one of the speakers about creating a ‘progressive alliance’ was Labour MP, Lisa Nandy. She was in the news again yesterday when she shared a platform at the Lib Dem conference with Caroline Lucas the 50% Leader of the Greens.

The Guardian reported on this and in a boring bit of the conference (constitutional amendments if you want to know) I followed the comments underneath the article and I would have been applaaled at the comments from people inside her own Party had I not spent some time on my holidays following similar Guardian and Labour list threads. I regard Lisa as a first class, principled MP. She is competent, knowledgeable and concerned. She is NOT a Lib Dem and she made it clear she has no intention of leaving the Labour Party. FAir enough, I have no intention of leaving the Liberal Democrats. BUT she is clearly an MP with whom I could make common ground on a number of crucial issues.

However to any me rest of the Labour Party she is the devil’s spawn. The vitriol poured on her, usually anonymously, by people claiming Labour membership was unbelievable. Just the willingness to reach and talk to people from other Parties was enough to damn her in the eyes of dozens of trolls. The fact that Labour and Lib Dems (and others) might make common cause on some issues was the final straw for dozens of others.

I spent some time on my holidays following up similar threads and if I had any thoughts about the possibility of a wide scale ‘progressive alliance’ they were dispelled by the filth spewed out. They and not the Lisa Nandy grouping are the people who will will drag Labour down because they represent a way f life and a style of politics that is alienation to the vast majority of the people of the U.K. Tree souldmates are not fellow socialists but the likes of English Demcrats and Britain First whose method of political discourse is shouting louder and louder and making comments that are shriller and shriller. Perhaps we should put them all in a big room where they can enjoy themselves with insult competitions and the man with the biggest gob!

Facing facts this behaviour will lead to major problemfor Labour. IT would appear from a. Wide number of reports that this new members, mostly in the Momentum grouping, don’t do much except lack meetings, engage in Polemic discourses and attend rallies. That’s a pity really. As a Lib Dem I really hope that they do take to the doorsteps. It would guarantee us success in ward after ward and constituency after constituency.!

As our Leader Tim Farron said yesterday the tragic death of the Labour Party is bad for everyone. We could now be condemned to 25 years of Tory Government which following Bexit will lead our country back to the mediaeval ages. The Corbynistas appeal to a maximum 20% of the vote. How do we know that? Not by looking at opinion polls, not at the number of people coming to rallies but the number of people casting real votes in real elections. almost uniquely for the main opposition Party Labour are going backward in the number of votes cast and the number of council seats gained. it is abundantly clear know that when those real votes are casting is only in very, very safe Labour seats like Hackney that Labour votes hold up. In almost very other part of the Country Labour are doing very badly indeed. Not only failing to gain seats but very quickly losing them.

The Times had a very interesting article on Labour in Liverpool Riverside last week. It might give us a clue as to how quickly Labour will disintegrate. I suspect that nationally it will be a year until the selections for the new parliamentary seats start as they are so many major boundary changes. BUT council selections are likely to start quite quickly even though in Liverpool there are no council elections next year. how safe are the relatively small number of Councillors who are part of the Progress movement in the face of Momentum take over of the constituency Party. ? How soon will sane and sensible (but misguided) Labour Councillors get de-selected to be replaced by the sort of loonies elected by Militant in the 80s who caused so much damage for our City. How will existing Labour Councillors trim their approach to the absurd to stave off a deselection threat?

That damage has already started. It is clear that Corbyns bag carrier Steve Rotherham got selected by Labour on the back of the Momentum movement which he has assiduously courted. His’Manifesto’ was threadbare. I strongly suspect it will be filled with the absurd nonsense of protest and confrontation rather than dealing in a pragmatic with the policies needed to deal with urgent and pressing problems.

This is alloutside my control so I shall now return to my own conference where dissent is encouraged but dealt with an a courteous and diplomatic fashion. Where we are united behind our Leader and where we have just adopted a range of vital policies which would massively help the whole of our Country but particularly the most disadvantaged. We have gained 18,000 new members since June 24th. Just as we believe that our Country should take in more asylum seekers are Party too is prepared to accept asylum seekers fleeing from terrible civil wars and violence in what was once a great socialist party!

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About richardkemp

Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Liverpool. . Deputy Chair and Lib Dem Spokesperson on the LGA Community Wellbeing Board. Married to the lovely Cllr Erica Kemp CBE with three children and four grandchildren.